


There's a Tiger in our Living Room

by magicandarchery



Category: Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Daddy!Alec, Fluff, Lightwood-Banes, M/M, Papa!Magnus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 09:22:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6950467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicandarchery/pseuds/magicandarchery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec loves hearing his children laugh. Alec hates seeing them hurt and his protectiveness kicks in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's a Tiger in our Living Room

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta’d so all mistakes and errors are my own. For @magnusandalec on Tumblr and based on this [post](http://alecmagnu.tumblr.com/post/143952712048). Enjoy!

One of the things that Alec Lightwood loved the most about having children was coming home after a long day at work to the sound of boisterous laughter that hit him before he even turned the key in the door. He could easily leave behind his work day at the Institute by simply stepping off the elevator on their floor, the laughter carrying throughout the building.  

Tonight was no different. High pitched laughter that bordered on a squeal - most definitely Max - hit his ears as soon as the elevator doors slid open. Rafael’s more mild, but no less infectious, laughter mingled in, and maybe it wasn’t perfectly harmonious in tone, but to Alec it was one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard.

He closed the door of the loft and shucked off his jacket, hanging it on the coat rack as he turned the corner into the spacious living room, being welcomed home by … total chaos. He had just a moment to register Magnus sitting casually, watching the boys with complete amusement on his face, legs crossed, in one of the armchairs. Rafael chased Max around the living room as Max was being dragged, or bounced, or flown - Alec wasn’t sure which one exactly because it looked like a mix of the three - by what looked like a tiger, his little fits holding on to the tail tightly. Not a full sized tiger, exactly. There was no room. More like a runty fully grown tiger.

“DADDY!” Max squealed with laughter. “Watch me!” He let go of the tiger’s tail with one hand, hanging on tightly with the other.  

Alec saw everything happen in slow motion, how the tiger cut a corner too quickly and Max’s remaining hand slipped from the tail and he thudded to the floor near the column that held a marble bust, one of Magnus’ many artifacts from a lifetime that spanned centuries. Normally the column was sturdy, and even though Max didn’t hit the column particularly hard, the bust swayed ominously before toppling forward, bouncing off of Max’s head before shattering on the floor.

It was the wailing cry that got to Alec as he rushed forward and crouched down next to Max, frantically checking him to make sure the marble hadn’t caused any cuts; luckily, it hadn’t, but Max had the beginnings of a painful knot on the top of his head. Alec scooped Max up into his arms and held him tightly against him, protecting him, cradling the back of his head.

“A tiger, Magnus? Really?” Alec raised his voice as Max sobbed and hiccupped against his shoulder.

Magnus and Rafael looked at each other, Rafe standing a little straighter where he had stopped running when Max had been flung off the tiger’s tail. “Considering that the boys have been playing with the tiger for hours and this is the only mishap, I’d say that was pretty good odds, wouldn’t you? And Max has already started to heal himself as much as he can.” Magnus said trying to infuse some humor into the situation and lighten everything up. Of their children, Magnus knew that the bumps and bruises of childhood playtime would affect Max the least.

Max was no longer wailing, but his sobs still came intermittently between a series of hiccups. Alec dropped his hand to Max’s back, rubbing in circles. Max’s magic had only barely started to develop so there were limits to how much he could heal himself. “That is not the point. How did a tiger get into our living room anyway?” he demanded.

Rafe moved over toward Magnus and climbed up into his lap and Magnus instinctively circled his arms around Rafe’s torso. “The boys were playing safari with their stuffed animals and Max wanted the tiger to come to life. You tell me you could look into those pleading puppy eyes and say no.”

“I do it all the time!” Alec exclaimed before shaking his head. “Okay, most of the time.”

Magnus leveled a knowing look at him.

“That’s not the point either. The point is there’s still a tiger in our living room and marble shards everywhere...” Alec was still exasperated, but it was dissipating as he spoke. How was it possible that he just … _couldn’t_ … stay completely mad? He sighed and cradled the back of Max’s head again, fingers stroking at soft hair. “I’m going to get Max an ice pack. I’ll leave you to clean all this up. Rafe, do _not_ walk over here with bare feet, understand me?”

Rafe nodded as Alec passed by them, Max clinging to his shirt, and then looked at Magnus. “Is Daddy really, really mad Papa?” he asked.

“No,” Magnus smiled and ruffled Rafe’s hair. “He’s just very protective of you both and doesn’t want to see either of you hurt. You watch. As soon as he’s done taking care of Max, he’ll come out and suggest we all go out for ice cream.”

“Can I get a double scoop cone?” Rafe asked excitedly and Magnus just smiled, snapping his fingers behind Rafe’s back. The marble bust pieced itself back together on top of the column as though nothing had happened to it, and the tiger reverted back to a soft, normal sized stuffed animal.

“I’m seeing triple scoop cones for you and brother both. With sprinkles.” Magnus winked and kissed Rafe’s temple.

In the kitchen, Alec held Max as he reached into the freezer for a pre-made ice pack. For a family of shadowhunters and warlocks, they sure did use a lot of mundane remedies for healing. He set Max carefully on the counter and wrapped a towel around the small pack before gently placing it against Max’s head.

“It was the tiger today, huh?” he smiled at Max as he wiped a stray tear from his little boy’s cheek.

Max sniffled and nodded. “Yeah. The giraffe was too tall.” he said, his voice so small, as he raised his arm over his head to show Alec how tall the giraffe would have been if it had come to life.

“Does anywhere else hurt?”

Max pointed to his elbow and then to his knee and Alec saw a few scratches, but those could have honestly come from anything else and were just aggravated by Max’s skid across the floor. Kisses, Alec had discovered, helped Max feel like every scrape, every bruise, and every bump healed faster. He took the ice pack away from Max’s head and kissed the spot where the knot had started, the ice already helping to ease the swelling, then kissed the scrapes on his elbow, and finally kissed the scrapes on Max’s knee.

“Know what else makes everything all better?” Alec smiled as he set the ice pack on the counter.

“Ice cream?” Max asked hopefully, turning those exact pleading puppy dog eyes that Magnus had referred to earlier, and that Alec knew they both were hard pressed to say no to, up to his own.

“Exactly.” Alec smiled more. He lifted Max off the counter and started back toward the living room.

Rafe was still curled up in Magnus’ lap, and how was it possible that Alec could love this impossible little family of his any more than he did in this moment?

“Who wants ice cream?” he asked with a grin and watched as Rafe bolted off of Magnus’ lap.

“Me!!” both Max and Rafe answered in tandem, even though the question had required no answer.

“Can I get a triple scoop with sprinkles dad?” Rafe asked as Magnus stood and snapped his fingers, Max and Rafe now wearing their light jackets.

“Oh I don’t see why not,” Alec answered with a grin, ruffling Rafe’s hair affectionately.

It was only fair, Alec thought, that after Magnus had brought a stuffed tiger to life, he could handle bedtime for two boys on a sugar high.


End file.
